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Badam kheer is a rich and healthy drink made with almonds and milk delicately flavored with saffron and cardamom. This delicious sweet drink is one of the popular Indian welcome drinks and it can also be served after spicy meals for soothing the stomach. Badam milk can be served either warm or cold. Chilled badam milk is an excellent cooler for the hot summer days.

Almonds are a fantastic source of many vitamins, minerals and fiber. Just a handful of nutrient-rich almonds daily helps in the development of brain, keeps your bone strong, skin glowing and aids in weight loss. It also fulfills some of our daily protein needs. You can have few almonds with or without skin everyday night and occasionally enjoy the goodness of almonds with this delicious badam kheer.

Paruppu Usili is a quintessential Tamil Brahmin dish, made of steamed lentils mixed with a vegetable. It is a very nutritious dish, especially for vegetarians as it got lentils to fulfill the daily protein needs. Green beans or cluster beans are the most commonly used vegetables to make paruppu usili, but other vegetables like cabbage and banana flower (vazhai poo) can also be used. Paruppu usili can be served with mor kootan / mor kuzhambu, sambar and rasam.

The lentil crumble can be made either with toor dal or chana dal, or a combination of both lentils. The lightly spiced lentil crumble is a delight to have by itself. In some households, the lentil are fried in oil until golden. This of course needs more oil, so I prefer this healthier version of steaming lentils. Mor kuzhambu and paruppu usili make a classic combination, but it also goes well with other South Indian gravies too.

Malai Kofta is a classic North Indian dish, originating from the Mughlai cuisine. Malai means cream and kofta refers to the deep fried paneer and potato balls. Malai kofta is one of the popular dish in many of the Indian restaurants. The mildly spiced and slightly sweet gravy is fragrant with fresh spices and rich with cream, milk and cashews, thus this Mughlai specialty is apt for special occasions and parties. The best accompaniment for malai kofta is naan and kulcha, but you can also serve with roti, jeera rice and pulao.

South Vs North Challenge, started by Divya of You Too Can Cook, is a great event to learn traditional regional cuisines. Nupur of UK Rasoi has challenged the Southern team with this malai kofta recipe for this month's SNC. To get the authentic taste I would highly recommend using cream in this recipe, after all we don't make malai kofta too often and little indulgence once in a while is okay! Serve with sliced onions, lemon wedges and any Indian flatbread of your choice.

Fried rice and manchurian are probably the dishes we order mostly when we go to a Chinese restaurant. I would say, our version of fried rice is a more of a fusion of Indian and Chinese cooking. Making fried rice at home is not a big task, its quite easy and much healthier too. It does involve a bit of chopping, but once the chopping part is done fried rice can be done in no time.

I have used basmati rice here though traditionally long grained rice is used to make fried rice. Leftover rice works best for fried rice, but you can also use freshly cooked rice. Just make sure to cook the rice with grains separate and cool them completely.

Before starting to make fried rice, make sure you have done all the chopping, cooked and cooled the rice. I have been making this fried rice for sometime now and I can say this recipe tastes very close to restaurant style fried rice. Serve this fried rice hot with any manchurian like gobi manchurian or vegetable manchurian, or you can have it with some tomato sauce/ketchup.

Blondies are similar to traditional brownies, but are based on brown sugar instead of cocoa. Blondies may have white or dark chocolate chips and nuts like walnuts and pecans. Blondies are not usually frosted because the brown sugar lends enough sweetness. Blondies are sometimes served in sundaes, often topped with caramel sauce.

This month, Sharanya of Just Not The Cakes is the host for Home Bakers Challenge, a baking group started by Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes. The theme for this month is American Food Holidays. One of the holidays was National Blondie Brownie Day which falls on January 22nd. Am glad I chose these blondies as they turned out soft and delicious, and it was a perfect treat for this Valentines.

Poricha Kuzhambu is a healthy and flavorful South Indian gravy for rice. Poricha kuzhambu is somewhat similar to sambar. It is made with lentils, vegetable and a special ground paste made of spices and coconut. The roast urad dal and pepper adds a great flavor to the kuzhambu. The kuzhambu can be made with vegetables like brinjal, drumstick, chow, chow, raw banana, bitter gourd etc. You can use just one vegetable or combine 3-4 vegetables.

The preparation of the kuzhambu varies from one household to another. This is typically how it is prepared in a Tamil Brahmin household. Since the kuzhambu has vegetables and lentils, you just need some papad and pickle as sides. Or you can also make a mezhukkupurati or a non coconut based vegetable fry to serve along the kuzhambu.

KATHRIKKAI PORICHA KUZHAMBU RECIPE

{ Brinjal in a lentil, roast spices and coconut gravy }
Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

2 cup chopped brinjal

1/3 cup toor dal / pigeon peas

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp tamarind paste / gooseberry sized tamarind

Salt to taste

To roast and grind:

1 tsp oil

1 tbsp urad dal

¼ tsp peppercorns

¼ tsp asafoetida / hing

2-3 dried red chillies

3 tbsp grated coconut

For the tempering:

1 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

Few curry leaves

Method:

1. Pressure cook the dal with enough water and a pinch of turmeric powder. Mash the dal well and set aside.

Ven Pongal is a traditional South Indian dish. After idli and dosa, pongal is one of the most common dish for breakfast. Ven pongal is also made during the Pongal festival and served as a neivedhyam in temples. Pongal tastes best when served piping hot with kathrikkai (brinjal) gothsu. Coconut chutney and sambar also goes well with pongal.

The main ingredients of ven pongal are raw rice and split yellow lentil which are cooked until mushy. It is then tempered in ghee with pepper, cashews, cumin seeds and ginger. The only tricky part in making pongal is getting the right consistency. It should neither be watery nor dry. Ghee adds to the taste and soft texture of the pongal, so do not skip on the ghee. Also the quality of rice and the amount of water should be right to get the correct consistency.

Making pongal is really easy and can be put together very quickly. Though I have never been fond of pongal much before, I have started liking it now. After few trials and errors, I have perfected the secret of making good pongal. So here is my version of ven pongal, also known as khara pongal (spicy pongal).

VEN PONGAL / GHEE PONGAL / KHARA PONGAL RECIPE

Serves 2

Spicy rice and lentil pudding tempered with pepper, cumin and cashewnuts in ghee

Pachadi is a curd and coconut based traditional dish of Kerala cuisine, made with a variety of vegetables and some fruits too. The freshly ground coconut with mustard and the tempering in coconut oil are the elements that enhances the taste of this thayir pachadi. You can use any of the following to make pachadi - ladies finger, tomato, cucumber, beetroot, pumpkin, pineapple etc. The ingredients and preparation are more or less the same. Today am sharing the recipe of pachadi with cucumber.

Cucumber pachadi is a simple and healthy dish that needs little time and effort in making them. You should get a kick of heat from the green chillies, so adjust the chillies accordingly. This pachadi can be served as a main dish with rice and any non-coconut based vegetable fry or mezhukkupuratti. Or you can serve this as a side dish to sambar and rasam. Pachadi is also a famous side dish to molagootal in Brahmin households. I made a carrot and potato mezhukkupuratti to go along with this flavorsome pachadi.

This month, for the International Food Challenge, we are cooking from the Austrian cuisine. The regional cuisine we are exploring is from Lower Austria, which is the north eastern most state of Austria. Lower Austria cuisine is striking for the differences within its regional cuisine due to its size and the variety of its landscape. Briju is the host for this month and she selected four popular and famous recipes from Lower Austria. Out of them, I chose to make this Apricot Strudel.

A strudel is a type of layered pastry with a— most often sweet—filling and is most often associated with Austrian and German cuisine. Marillenstrudel is a popular strudel from Lower Austria. 'Marillen' is the Austrian term for apricots. Lower Austria, is famous for fruits, in particular its apricots which are known to be the best and finest tasting. This strudel is a light dessert and tastes best when served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream.